Patricia Finney is a British Author Born in 1958 in London. Finney received her education from Wadham College before graduating from Oxford with a degree in History in 1980. In the years before and after finding success as a writer, Finney experimented with a wide variety of careers and jobs, at one point working as a newspaper columnist, magazine editor, hospital administrator, pastry shape, film scriptwriter and a stand-up comedian.

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Finney loves history, which is why she studied the subject at Oxford. Additionally, a number of her books take place during Elizabethan times, which is an impressive feat considering all the genres Finney has experimented with. It is worth noting that by the time Patricia Finney joined Oxford at the age of 18, her first novel “A Shadow of Gulls” had already been published. She even won an award for the book during her first year, hitting the ground running in her efforts to make it big in the literary arena.

Patricia Finney has written crime novels, children’s books and even spy thrillers set in Elizabethan times; some people will most likely remember her hilarious book about Jack the daffy written in Doglish, the language of dogs. Others will know her for her work as an established broadcast dramatist. She gained particular acclaim for her play “The Flood” which garnered considerable attention on BBC Radio 3.

Patricia Finney has written books under the pen names P.F Chisholm and Grace.

Patricia Finney Awards

Patricia Finney won her first notable award when she was just in her first year at Oxford, winning the David Higham Award for Best First Novel of the year. The reviews for her first book were just as fantastic.

She also received an Edgar Allan Poe Award Nomination from the Mystery Writers of America in 2005 for “Assassin”.

Best Patricia Finney Books

Patricia Finney has written a number of books during her illustrious career; most of them are so unique that it is difficult to compare her work to her colleagues, with the following novels best defining her style:

Firedrake’s Eye: A plot to kill Queen Elizabeth has been constructed. Tom O’Bedlam is the mad son of a prominent catholic family. He finds evidence suggesting that his hated brother has returned to England with the intention of spearheading a scheme to see the queen assassinated.

The first book in the David Becket and Simon Ames series has been lauded several times over by critics and readers from all walks of life. The book has been praised for not only being brilliantly written but for Patricia Finny using language that is eerily reminiscent of 16th century England.

There is so much color in the world Finney paints, so much of the drama of Tudor England being brought to the fro that one cannot help but marvel at the skill of the author.

The tale is told from the perspective of Tom O’Bedlam; the book’s narrator, Tom has a mental breakdown, this while telling the story of an attempted assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth I.

Tom has a level of omniscience that gives him insight into the minds of men; however, Tom struggles to communicate the things he knows and learns to others.

Most other individuals within his vicinity are quick to believe him mad, dismissing his words as crazy ravings. Through Tom’s perspective, Patricia Finney crafts a vivid image of the time period, inclusive of the sights, sounds and every smell one knows about the era, this along with the religious and political strife.

The mix between real historical figures and fictional characters is brilliantly handled; it would take some rather odd preferences to hate Patricia Finney’s amazing work here.

Unicorn’s Blood: There was a figure in 1580s England whose stature approached that of a deity. Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, was a slight woman of exceptional intellectual brilliance standing at the center of a country assaulted by international foes from the outside and religious strife from within.

However, the Queen’s persona was little more than a façade designed to hold a fractious people together

This book, another tale in the David Becket and Simon Ames series, centers on Unicorn’s blood, revolving around a private diary kept by the queen as a young princess. The intimate revelations within this stolen diary, embroidered with a unicorn cover that has a ruby for an eye, could bring the Tudor Government to its knees.

Most readers that shun Elizabethan books as a whole have attested to being totally enchanted by Patricia Finney’s work here, the book proving to be an amazingly good time, delving into political intrigue and bringing some truly breathtaking descriptions of 16th Century London to the page.

When Does The Next Patricia Finney book come out?

Patricia Finney doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is A Chorus of Innocents and was released on August, 4th 2014. It is the newest book in the Sir Robert Carey Series.

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